Microsoft And Cray Form Alliance To Bring Supercomputing To The Azure Cloud

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Microsoft and Cray just announced a strategic alliance that gives enterprise users of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform access to dedicated Cray supercomputing systems. As a result of the agreement, moving forward, Microsoft and Cray will both be able to offer customers access to Cray supercomputing systems in Microsoft Azure datacenters, to run AI, advanced analytics, and other HPC-class workloads.

“Our partnership with Microsoft will introduce Cray supercomputers to a whole new class of customers that need the most advanced computing resources to expand their problem-solving capabilities, but want this new capability available to them in the cloud,” said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. “Dedicated Cray supercomputers in Azure not only give customers all of the breadth of features and services from the leader in enterprise cloud, but also the advantages of running a wide array of workloads on a true supercomputer, the ability to scale applications to unprecedented levels, and the performance and capabilities previously only found in the largest on-premise supercomputing centers.”

Cray XC 50 Supercomputer

Cray Inc.

Availability of Cray supercomputer resources in Azure, allows researchers, analysts, and other professionals to do things like train AI deep learning models, perform whole genome sequencing, conduct crash simulation, perform computational fluid dynamic simulations, or run any other type of HPC workload that would typically require massive hardware and IT management investments, from machines attached to the cloud. The resources available could perform some tasks in days or minutes, versus months or weeks on lesser hardware.

“Using the enterprise-proven power of Microsoft Azure, customers are running their most strategic workloads in our cloud,” said Jason Zander, corporate vice president, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp. “By working with Cray to provide dedicated supercomputers in Azure, we are offering customers uncompromising performance and scalability that enables a host of new previously unimaginable scenarios in the public cloud. More importantly, we’re moving customers into a new era by empowering them to use HPC and AI to drive breakthrough advances in science, engineering and health.”